02-02-2006, 04:02 PM
I've tried out a number of builds including Soul Link/Nightfall but I keep coming back to the Dark Pact build I levelled wtih. Turns out that it suits my style for raiding as well: buffed Imp, great stamina, Dark Pact for longevity, 2.5sec Shadowbolts, and Shadowburn for padding the damage meters. ;)
I did raid MC once with my Soul Link/Nightfall build and I wasn't too impressed. As mentioned above, you're kind of expected to have your imp out and Soul Link doesn't really work well with the imp's low health. A few points of damage mitigation are nothing compared to costing your entire party 500+ health when the imp dies from a random stomp or AoE. I did not have Ruin in my build, so drawing aggro was never really a concern either, so the MD Imp buff was wasted in my opinion. All of this would be different if you go MD/Ruin, of course. The 3 sec Shadowbolts were a huge bummer too, although you may feel different if you're not a big damage meters whore like myself. :)
You can do some nifty things with Demonic Sacrifice but it always seemed kind of selfish to me, and I was never comfortable trying the DS->rez pet trick. You can output some sick damage or be pretty much invincible if you go that route though.
There are two talent builds that I would like to try: Soul Link/Shadowburn/Improved Lifetap, and Ruin/Demonic Sacrifice/Improved Lifetap. The first gets you all the MD buffs plus 2.5sec Shadowbolts & Shadowburn, the latter gets you big crits and DS goodies. Both lose out on Shadow Mastery (made up somewhat through MD & DS buffs), reduced interrupt Drain Life (a biggie for soloing), Nighfall, and Siphon Life. Either build would be suitable for raiding in my opinion, since Drain Life, Nighfall, and Siphon Life are rarely used.
I did raid MC once with my Soul Link/Nightfall build and I wasn't too impressed. As mentioned above, you're kind of expected to have your imp out and Soul Link doesn't really work well with the imp's low health. A few points of damage mitigation are nothing compared to costing your entire party 500+ health when the imp dies from a random stomp or AoE. I did not have Ruin in my build, so drawing aggro was never really a concern either, so the MD Imp buff was wasted in my opinion. All of this would be different if you go MD/Ruin, of course. The 3 sec Shadowbolts were a huge bummer too, although you may feel different if you're not a big damage meters whore like myself. :)
You can do some nifty things with Demonic Sacrifice but it always seemed kind of selfish to me, and I was never comfortable trying the DS->rez pet trick. You can output some sick damage or be pretty much invincible if you go that route though.
There are two talent builds that I would like to try: Soul Link/Shadowburn/Improved Lifetap, and Ruin/Demonic Sacrifice/Improved Lifetap. The first gets you all the MD buffs plus 2.5sec Shadowbolts & Shadowburn, the latter gets you big crits and DS goodies. Both lose out on Shadow Mastery (made up somewhat through MD & DS buffs), reduced interrupt Drain Life (a biggie for soloing), Nighfall, and Siphon Life. Either build would be suitable for raiding in my opinion, since Drain Life, Nighfall, and Siphon Life are rarely used.